Talking Tech| Fave photo apps: PhotoGrid, Instagram

May 11, 2013
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Rainey Forzetting of Atascadero, Calif. / Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

by Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

by Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

VENICE, Calif. - The most popular camera in the world is the smartphone: Billions of cellphone photos are taken every month. Which app do YOU use to pretty up those images with cool filters and effects? We decided to reach out to consumers for some tips.

Here's a sampling:

â?¢ Instagram (Free. Apple and Android.) The world's most popular photo app (sold to Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion) "makes every picture look beautiful," says Jessica Rene, of Montreal. "You can add colors â?¦ it's pretty." Use Instagram to take photos, edit them and share.

â?¢ PhotoGrid (Free. Apple, Android, Windows Phone.) The app works with Instagram to make collages from your images. "Basically you can combine like up to eight or 10 pictures into one," says Jessica Torno, from Seattle. "I do grids of everything."

â?¢ Flickr. (Free. Apple, Android and Windows Phone.) One of the oldest photo communities, owned by Yahoo, Flickr recently upgraded its mobile apps to now allow hashtags for easier tagging and discovery. Here's why Sierra Simmons of Atascadero likes it. "You can see (photos from) all over the world, and it's like both amateur and professional photography. So you'll see someone in Milan doing weird stuff, and it's just really fun."

â?¢ Action Movie FX. (Free. Apple.) "You get to kill people on it and blow them up," says Kellen Demo of Kansas City. You take photos or videos of folks, then buy action footage bundles to add to the scene, which start at 99 cents apiece.

â?¢ PicsArt Photo Studio. (Free. Apple, Android.) This photo editor is "quick," says Mynor Ixeo of Los Angeles. "I really like it." With PicsArt you take photos with your phone, edit them with effects and borders, and then share them.

â?¢ Line Camera (Free. Apple, Android.) Similar to PicsArt, in that effects and filters are offered to pretty up your photos. "It's like Instagram mixed with editing your pictures," says Amber Meza of Los Angeles.

â?¢ Pro HDR ($1.99, Apple and Android.) HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography is popular with pros, who take three shots of the same image - one normal, the other two under and over exposed - and combine them, with software, into one great-looking picture. With the Pro HDR Camera (for Android) and Pro HDR (for Apple) apps, you take three shots on your phone, "It analyzes it, combines the resolution and then makes one really pretty picture," says Skyler McNulty of Los Angeles.